An even dozen in the race to be mayor of Ottawa

Twelve candidates are hoping to be mayor of Ottawa for the next four years, and the field of candidates include an incumbent and a former city councillor.

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Jim Watson was first elected mayor in 2010, re-elected for a second term in 2014, and is now seeking re-election.

In 2010, hedefeated then-incumbent Larry O'Brien by taking in just under halfof all votes, while former councillor Clive Doucet who ran for mayor that year, lost, and is now running again got 15 per cent.

In 2014, Watsonincreased his share of the vote to 76 per cent, running against Mike Maguire.

A last-minute decision

It seemed as though Watson was going to beunchallenged by a big name this year until Doucetmade an 11th-hour entry into the race.

DoucetrepresentedCapital ward from 1997 to 2000 prior to amalgamation, and from 2001 to 2010 after amalgamation.

During his race for mayor in 2010, he was a bigadvocatefor light-rail transit. This time, Doucet said he made the decision to run againto make sure there's a good debate in the mayoral race.

Ten other candidates are also running for mayor, though none have the same profile as Doucet and Watson.They are:

• HamidAlakozai
• Ahmed Bouragba, who ran for trustee in the French public school board in 2014 and lost.
• Bernard Couchman, who ran in 2014 and came in last.
• Clive Doucet
• Joey Drouin
• Ryan Lythall
• Craig MacAulay, who ran for College ward councillor in 2014 and came in third.
• Bruce McConville
• Michael Pastien, who ran for Bay ward councillor in 2014 and came in fifth.
• Moises Schachtler
• James T. Sheahan
• Jim Watson

Candidates who did not provide a website when they registered do not have links to their campaigns.

Election day is Oct. 22.